


The Dabbing Incident

by MizuLeKitten



Series: Nothing Ever Goes Wrong AU [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alien Cultural Differences, Alternate Reality - Nothing Ever Goes Wrong, But It's Still There!, Crack Treated Seriously, Cultural Differences, Dont Wanna Mislead Shippers On Accident, Dont Want It As A Main Tag Since It's Not The Focus Of The Fic, Galra Keith (Voltron), Jokes, Minor Pidge | Katie Holt/Shiro, POV Multiple, Pranks and Practical Jokes, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-28
Updated: 2018-05-28
Packaged: 2019-05-15 03:16:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14782613
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MizuLeKitten/pseuds/MizuLeKitten
Summary: Keithal will never trust Katie again, not after she betrayed him like this.





	The Dabbing Incident

**Author's Note:**

> JupJup - you asked; I delivered  
> Since its not part of the time frame from Meeting of Realities I decided to make it its own fic

Keithal tried not to stare at Katie in utter bewilderment, but he knew that it showed on his face, "Is that- that's how humans greet each other?" There was no way what she just showed him was a greeting. It was so  _ impractical.  _ What if you hit someone?

"Yup!” Katie said as she sat down across from him. “We know it's a bit over the top, especially for you Galra, so we keep it to just homeworld and human on human interactions."

He tried not to flinch at the statement; it was as if she could read his mind. Which he knew she couldn’t. Humans weren’t mind readers, unless that was something else no one told him. Which brought him to, probably, his main problem with this new information: "I've never seen you and Shiro do it."

Katie shrugged, "we know it'd be weird to do since most of the time we're around other aliens."

"Why didn't he tell me?” The point of their forced, at first, socialization was so that their two cultures could intermingle and they could learn about one another. Even if a tradition was so… odd as that, Keithal should’ve still known. Stars abound knows that he had told Shiro far worse things, things that made him flush just thinking about.

"Focused on other things? He was the first human to ever meet aliens,” his brow raised at that statement, “first  _ officially  _ to meet aliens,” she corrected with a roll of her eyes, earning a small huff of a laugh from him, “I’d assume it wasn’t at the top of his list.”

Keithal nodded. He guess he could understand that. There were a lot of things he hadn’t told Shiro as well, things that Shiro had simply experienced as they lived together on his Cruiser. If he had visited Earth before then he would’ve experienced this greeting, but he hadn’t due to negotiations being run, and then lack of time. He couldn’t, and never would, blame Shiro for such small things falling to the wayside.

"But hey, I'm telling you now so it all works out in the end! Since you're meeting our fam later I figured it'd be the perfect chance to try it out,” she said with a grin

"Okay. I can do it."

~*~

Katie had been up to something, Shiro had known it. He hadn't known  _ what  _ she was up to, but it was something. She had been far more excited about seeing their family than normal - not to say that she was never excited. Sam and Colleen spent a lot of their time traveling from planet to planet, and Matt was often working with the Garrison to catalogue all the new life forms, so the time to see each other was small. When they did have time she was always excited, in a bubbly, rambly way. She'd ask what he thought their family had been up to, before going on and on about what adventures she  _ bet  _ they had been on.

This wasn't that same kind of excitement, this was a quieter, more suspicious excitement, and she kept shooting Keithal glances, biting her lip to keep a grin from forming.

When he had asked her what was up, she had simply smiled at him and said, "Nothing."

They both knew that she was lying, but he didn't see a reason to push it. It wasn't as if she was upset, so he didn't see a real reason to worry too much.

It was a severe lapse in judgement, after all, he had been married to her for awhile now, known her even longer; he should've realized she was up to her usual tricks. Honestly, he should've seen this coming before their ride to Olkari, back when they had first invited Keithal home with them for a visit.

He couldn’t believe what he had witnessed. He had brought up a hand to cover his mouth, trying desperately not to laugh at his friend. Katie and Matt hadn't bothered. They were each cackling, doubled over, arms wrapped around their middles and one another. Shiro only fought joining them to give Keithal some ounce of respect and sympathy.

Before him, facing Sam and Colleen, Keithal had bowed his head slightly. His left arm was raised at an angle, straightened out fully. His right arm was bent over his face, following the same angle as his left.

Keithal had dabbed.

Sam and Colleen looked on confused, but nothing could beat Keithal's face as he glanced over to Katie and Matt. His face flushed, bringing out the purple freckles that spotted his cheeks.

"Did I do it wrong?" It was such an honest to god Keithal question, so earnest and paranoid that he had messed the - the what? The greeting? - the greeting up. It made Shiro feel bad. That same remorse did not, obviously, spread to his wife and brother in law.

"Nope, you-" Katie interrupted herself with a giggle (a very cute giggle that Shiro adored), "-you did great. Perfect. 10 outta 10."

Keithal watched in confusion as Katie and Matt burst into another round of laughter, practically clinging to one another at this point for support lest they fall over.

Keithal’s face morphed in an instant after that, gone was the guilt that had marred his features beforehand. His eyes went wide before settling into a glare (it was more so a very concentrated pout, but the only people brave enough to call him out on that were his partners and Lance), "it's not a human greeting is it," Katie didn't answer, still laughing, so he turned to Shiro. "It's not."

Shiro could only slowly nod. He wouldn't laugh at him. It'd be horrible.

It was kind of funny, though.

Keithal’s glare returned to Katie before it fell into an actual pout, eyes shining barely in the light, "Really? I  _ trusted _ you," it was full of such genuine hurt that Katie and Matt paused.

"Keithal- Keithal, buddy, I didn't- I didn't mean to upset you," Katie’s panic was near palpable. She never knew what was too far before it happened, and it was clear that damage control wasn’t something she had entertained as a possible outcome to this prank.

"Shit, Katie, I, uh, don't think this joke panned out too well," Matt whispered.

"No shit, Matt," Katie shoved her brother, face now twisted in annoyance instead of mirth. Katie looked down, toeing at the ground in a show of awkward yet meaningful remorse, "It was just a joke, Keithal. I didn't- it was just a joke."

Katie was too busy with the ground to notice the twitch of a smirk on Keithal’s lips. Shiro noticed; oh did Shiro notice. He hadn’t expected the trip back to Olkari to be such a wild ride from the get-go, but whenever a Holt was involved, himself included, things were bound to be interesting. He really should have known better.

"I'll forgive you if you help reprogram the next type of sentries."

"Of course, any- wait," Katie honed in on Keithal's face. He'd never offer forgiveness for a price, never. He didn’t hold grudges, he trusted and he cared, and he’d never try to gain off of someone else in such a manner. Shiro knew it, Katie knew it, and Keithal most certainly knew it.

Keithal smirked at her.

"You little shit!" She launched herself at him, hitting at his chest, "I can't believe you! I was actually worried!"

Keithal laughed, taking a simple step back to steady himself against her onslaught, "Yeah, well, you tricked me first. What did that action even  _ mean _ ?"

Matt was back to laughing, and Shiro didn't fight the smile on his face. Sam and Colleen, used to their family’s antics, watched with obvious smiles. Katie stepped back from Keithal, giving him half a tick before launching into a spiel about human internet culture.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on tumblr at MizuLeKitten
> 
> I pretty much wrote this all in one sitting because it had to be done. You asked and I just - I had to.


End file.
